NITKOPHILA 



CHENOPODIACE.E 591 



* * Bracts obcom pressed, completely united, not muricate : testa 

 membranaceous. 



7 Eurota Low and shrubby white-tomentose perennials: pericarp coni- 

 cal, densely hairy, not winged. 



S Erenioseuiium Somewhat spinescent nearly glabrous shrubs : pericarp 

 flattened, orbicular, wing-margined, glabrous. 



Tribe hi Flowers perfect, without bracts. Seed invested by 

 the pericarp. 



Corispermuui Low annuals: flowers solitary in the axils; fruit com- 

 pressed-elliptical, acutely margined. 



Tribe iv Fleshy saline plants with jointed stems and scale- 

 like leaves. 



9 Salieornia Branches opposite : flower clusters decussitately opposite: 

 calyx saccate, becoming spongy. 



Tribe v Herbs or shrubs with fleshy leaves. Stems not jointed. 



10 Sareofoatus Somewhat spinescent shrubs: flowers unisexual : the 

 staminate in aments, without calyx ; the pistillate axillary, solitary. 

 with saccate calyx : fruit transversely winged. 



11 Dondia Saline herbs or shrubs with perfect axillary flowers : the 

 calyx 5-cleftor 5-parted. 



Tribe 1 Chenopodiex Moq. in DC. Prodr. xiii, 46'. Stems 

 not jointed. Leaves flat, except in Kochia. Flowers perfect, with- 

 out bracts. Sepals persistent. Seeds free, mostly with crustaceous 

 testa and copious albumen. Embryo annular. 



1 NITROPHILA Watson Bot. King "257. 



Low branching perennials with fleshy opposite leaves and 

 small perfect axillary flowers. Calyx of 5-7 equal erect concave 

 and carinate sepals, mostly 2- bracted at base. Stamens as many 

 as sepals, united into a very narrow perigynous disk. Style 

 short. Stigmas 2. Utricle subglobose, indehiscent beaked by 

 the persistent style included within the connivent sepals. 



X. occidentalis Watson 1. c. Glabrous throughout : stems ascending 

 or decumbent, 3-8 inches long, from a perennial running rootstock, bran- 

 ching from the base: lower leaves broadly ovate or oblong. 2-3 lines long, 

 the rest linear, 12 lines long, semiterete, acuminate and cuspidate: bracts 

 similar but shorter, mostly twice longer than the flowers: flowers 1-3 in 

 each axil, the lateral ones often short-pedicelled, 2-3-bracted, the central 

 one often bractless : sepals a line long, rather rigid, ovate acutish exceeding 

 the stamens and style : utricle brownish: seeds half a line broad, black and 

 shining. In moist alkaline soil, southeastern Oregon to California. 



2 KOCHIA Roth. Schrad. Journ. Bot. i, 307. (1799.) 



Perennial or annual herbs or low shrubs with alternate leaves 

 and small flowers solitary or few in the axils of the upper leaves. 

 Flowers perfect or pistillate sometimes bracteolate. Cah^x her- 

 baceous, 5-cleft, persistent over the fruit, andat length developing 

 a horizontal wing. Stamens 3-5, usually exserted: filaments linear. 



